


As Long As It Takes

by hospitality



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: AU, M/M, Talentswap, reserve course chiaki, ultimate gamer hajime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-23 09:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16156355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hospitality/pseuds/hospitality
Summary: Hajime is the Ultimate Gamer and the traitor.Inspired by these talentswap designs:https://bile-shroom.tumblr.com/post/178345783622/au-where-everythings-the-same-but-chiakis-the





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have already written this whole fic and just need to edit it now, so no need to worry about this never getting finished. Enjoy.  
> This section is set somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd trial.

Hajime sat in the lobby, fiddling with the arcade machines. 2nd place. 2nd place. 2nd place again. He sighed and pulled away from the console. After filling the scoreboard with whatever made-up name came to mind at the time, he had set a record under the name ‘AAABBC’ that he was having trouble budging. That round’s success would be hard to replicate; it was mostly just sheer luck.  He sat back in his seat and yawned widely. Was it even OK for him to be spending all of this time just playing video games? After all, he was supposed to be an observer. Spending most of each day in the hotel lobby didn’t exactly get much observing done. He couldn’t help it, though, he rationalised. It was just how his AI had been programmed. And like this, the others always at least knew where to find him…

As he considered this, a familiar white mop of hair caught his eye through the window. His tiredness immediately evaporated, and he almost fell out of his chair backwards. Luck! Just what he needed to break through the level! With this thought in mind he rushed out of the hotel to intercept Nagito’s course. Just that little bit of exercise set his heart rate racing, and so he kept his explanation short.

“In here. Now please.”

Nagito looked briefly surprised, but his expression melted into the amiable smile he usually wore and he let himself be dragged into the hotel lobby.

“Hinata-kun? I don’t mind helping with whatever you intend to do, but do you mind letting me know so that I can assist you?” His eyes widened. “Do you plan to kill me? Obviously I don’t mind, but we should come up with a better plan to do so- this would be too obvious-“

Hajime cut him off curtly. “No, Nagito. Don’t be ridiculous.” The atmosphere had tensed somewhat, and he suddenly didn’t know how to phrase what he wanted to say. “I- uh… I’m having a bit of an issue beating a high score, and I was wondering if you could use your luck to… help somehow?” He suddenly felt very stupid. The idea had seemed genius at the time, but now that he was actually having to explain it to someone he realized that he didn’t even know what he wanted Nagito to do. Nagito looked similarly confused.

“Um… I’m not sure if it will have an effect, but… maybe I can start the game off for you?”

Hajime nodded sheepishly. He wanted to withdraw the idea altogether, but it was far too late to back off now. Nagito took his position at the controllers and pressed ‘play’, starting off at the first level. Just as expected, the environment materialised in exactly the optimum position. After hesitantly taking the first few moves, he stepped back to let Hajime play. He quickly jumped to the controls and breezed through the first level, hesitating only to look back at Nagito with a grin. However, he was slightly taken aback by the expression on the other boy’s face. He wasn’t looking at the screen at all, he was just staring at Hajime, looking thoughtful. He gave Hajime a small smile and a nod when he turned around, but he got the feeling that as soon as he turned his back Nagito’s expression would immediately switch again. He shrugged off his unease and continued blasting through the levels.

As he fell into his gaming trance, his mind began to wander to Nagito’s student profile. He had been given the profiles of all of his companions, both for their school life and their time as Ultimate Despair. When he had first read through them he had been appalled. He was sure that he could never trust these people who had turned to absolute evil. And at the start, he hadn’t. He had been truly what one would expect of an ‘observer’- cool, sharp-eyed, waiting for one of them to make a wrong move. But now, knowing everyone better, he could hardly connect the people he knew to the words he had read. Sure, things had gone wrong; sure, that pained him unimaginably, but they were so desperate. Not evil. Even Nagito, who seemed to be trusted by so few of his classmates. At that thought his mind flicked back to his surroundings, and on checking his score, he gasped. He’d almost beaten his high score! Just a few more points, and-

Just as the score had clicked up to one past his target, the screen flickered and cut out. He cursed and let go of the controls. Freed from his concentration, he realised that the sky had got dark. Nagito was, however, still sitting there in silence.

“Nagito? You’ve been here the whole time? What… It must have been hours?”

Nagito held up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t want to disturb you. And besides, I could watch the Ultimate Gamer at work for any amount of time!” His expression changed to one of concern. “What happened? Did you beat your score?”

“I don’t know…” Hajime replied uncertainly. He stretched briefly and then checked around the back of the machine. A mouse scampered off at the sight of him, leaving a chewed-up wire in its wake. He sighed and turned back around, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Good news and bad news. I beat the high score by one point, but the wires got chewed up just as I did it.”

Nagito’s face fell. “Oh. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” His hands clenched into fists and his gaze dropped to avoid Hajime’s eyes. “As if trash like me could ever do anything to help an Ultimate.”

Hajime looked at him in confusion. “It’s just a mouse. Don’t stress it.”

Nagito shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. It’s my luck- it’s not always good. I always just end up being a burden to everyone.”

Hajime looked incredulous. “What? I thought that you had good luck? Surely this isn’t what you wanted to happen?” Nagito’s eyes stayed averted. “No, no. It’s just more extreme luck than others.” He gestured a circle with his hands. “It’s a sort of cycle. One day I win the lottery, the next, my parents die in a plane crash.” Hajime’s eyes widened. He had read that Nagito’s parents had died in a plane crash, but he never dreamed that it could have been due to his talent. He carefully manufactured his reaction, trying to approximate the right expression for someone hearing this news for the first time. He supposed that they probably wouldn’t believe him, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that to Nagito. Instead, he brought the topic back to the game.

“I don’t mind, Nagito. All I wanted was to beat the record, and I did, right? I’m still glad that I asked you.” Hajime collapsed into a sitting position on the floor so that he was back in the field of view of Nagito’s averted eyes. “Don’t feel bad, ok?”

Despite Hajime’s efforts, Nagito just moved his eyes again. “I’m very honoured to receive kind words from such an amazing person.” Despite his scripted deflection, Hajime could detect the slightest tinge of genuine gratitude in his words. Smiling, he got up again and started to walk out of the hotel, getting out his handheld console from his pocket. He waved with the back of his hand.

“See you later, Nagito.”

Nagito didn’t reply.


	2. Chapter 2

Hajime’s thumbs tapped away on his console as he walked. It was his favourite game: a super-hard special edition of Space Invaders. He’d learned each level by heart, and unless there was some sort of distraction he had no problem beating every level consecutively every time. He wondered if the real Hajime had liked this game too. He hoped so. He liked the idea of painstakingly building up his skills, the rush of adrenaline when he finally won after hundreds of tries. If he could never have it, he at least appreciated the fact that his doppelganger at least could have. Although, technically, he was the doppelganger… he shook his head to clear the thoughts as he entered his cottage. This was getting him nowhere. He was too tired for this.

Just like every evening, Usami was waiting in his room with Hajime’s notebook in hand. At the sight of him, she beamed brightly.

“Good evening Hajime! Are you ready to fill out your log for today?”

“Hey Usami. Uh, yeah. I guess. Just put it down over here.” He gestured to the desk. “I’ll go find a pen.” As he grabbed a pen from where he’d thrown it down on his bed earlier, he wondered about what he was going to write for today. Guiltily, he recalled that he had barely stepped out of the lobby since breakfast.

After he finished filling out the diary entry and pushed the open diary towards Usami, she continued to look at him expectantly. He gave her a blank expression, and she tapped her finger on the big box above the text lines. Looking pleased with herself, she produced a big blue crayon.

“Don’t you think this missing something?”

Hajime sighed theatrically, suppressing a small smile. They did this every single evening.

“Fine. If you insist. But if it’s bad, it’s your fault.”

He took the crayon and drew a stick man, then added little waves coming out of its head in all directions. Usami looked over his shoulder and nodded encouragingly.

“Great work Hajime! It’s… a person? Right?”

Hajime lightly punched her arm.

“It’s Nagito, obviously. The hair?”

Usami nodded hesitantly and closed the diary, tucking it under her arm. Hajime laughed briefly,but the laugh quickly turned into a yawn. Usami’s expression looked concerned.

“Oh, I’m keeping you up? You better get to sleep. It’s important for young people to get enough, good quality sleep.”

Hajime yawned again. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not as if I’m even a real student here…” Usami’s expression immediately hardened, and she jumped up onto the table so that her eye level was level with his.

“I don’t want to ever hear you talk like that, Hajime! As long as you’re on this island, you’re my student.” He wheeled his chair backwards and waved her off.

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”

She looked hurt, but took the implied cue to leave.

“See you tomorrow, Hajime! Sleep well!”

He pulled his hoodie off over his head and collapsed onto the bed, not bothering to pull the covers over himself. He fell asleep in seconds.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Hajime was back in the hotel lobby after breakfast like clockwork. It was only when he arrived that he remembered that the arcade machine was already broken. He eyed the wooden benches, but they didn’t look comfortable at all. He rubbed his eyes and began to walk out the door, but just as he did so Chiaki turned the corner and they crashed in to each other painfully.  
“Ow!”  
Hajime rubbed his arm where Chiaki’s elbow had dug into it. She looked inquisitively at him.  
“Hey, what are you doing in here again?” Before he had the chance to answer, she continued. “Anyway, you bumped in to me, so now you owe me a favour, right? I’m going to cash that in right now.”  
“Hey, wait a sec- how does that work-“ he started to protest, but Chiaki had already started walking off, gesturing for him to come with her.  
Finally, they ended up at Rocketpunch market. Chiaki cracked her knuckles and turned to Hajime.  
“Mikan asked if I could sort through the stuff here. Try to find anything useful.”  
Hajime yawned. “Tell me again why I got dragged into this…?”  
Chiaki pouted. “C’mon. It’s not even going to be that hard work. And I have something for you…” She reached into a plastic bag she’d been carrying and pulled out a book. Branded on the front was the title, ‘Tips and Tips 2nd Edition’. He knew this book; it was a collection of the most recent cheat codes and easter eggs for all the games that mattered. He reached out his hands eagerly. He never thought he’d get to read something like that before this game was over, and he wouldn’t get a chance after that.  
“You’ve convinced me! I’ll help you. Can you pass that over, please. Asap.”  
Chiaki laughed and handed it over. He carefully put it in his satchel, then looked back up at Chiaki.  
“It’s unlike Mikan to ask for help with something like this.”  
Chiaki nodded in reply. “Yeah. Obviously there was a lot of crying and apologising involved, but I think she’s getting a bit better at talking to me. If only she didn’t keep thinking she’s somehow unworthy.” She sighed and shook her head, but Hajime could sense a lot of affection in the way that she had talked about Mikan.  
“You two are really quite close, huh?”  
Chiaki blushed.  
“Yeah, I guess. We’ve been hanging out quite a bit.”  
Hajime chuckled. “Cute.”  
Chiaki huffed. “Don’t give me that! You don’t think I haven’t noticed that you taken Nagito on as your own little project?”  
Hajime touched the back of his neck self-consciously.  
“Oops.” His expression turned more serious. “You would think a bunch of Ultimates would be more confident in themselves.”  
Chiaki nodded. “All we can do is believe in them, though.”  
After a while of sorting through bandages, Chiaki picked up a small packet of cookies with bright branding on their label and exclaimed loudly.  
“Ahhh, I haven’t seen these since I was a kid! My mom used to buy them for me on my birthday.” She sighed. “I wonder how my parents are doing.”  
Hajime frowned. He’d never given much thought to Chiaki’s parents, since they weren’t mentioned in her file, but come to think of it, what kind of parents must they be? After the experiments Chiaki Nanami had disappeared off the face of the earth. What kind of parents would just have been ok with that? He decided to inquire about it.  
“What are your parents like?”  
She glanced at the ground.  
“Oh. Ok, I guess. I mean, nothing to really complain about, I think. They didn’t really want that much to do with me, though. I’ve been at boarding schools ever since I was old enough to, so I’m not really all that close to them. They always seemed a bit disappointed to have such an average child.” She perked up a bit. “Guess they were wrong, though! I got into Hope’s Peak, after all!”  
Hajime winced internally. Chiaki resumed what she was doing.  
“How about you? What are your parents like?”  
Hajime thought carefully.  
“I only have a mom. I don’t really know that much about her, though…” He found it a bit odd to refer to Chihiro as his mom, but he supposed that she was the closest thing he had to one. He had briefly interacted with Alter Ego, but she seemed more like a sibling than a parent.  
Chiaki looked a little confused but didn’t press him about it. They worked in awkward silence for a while, until Chiaki finally determined that they were finished.  
“I think that’s all she needs. Ok, now we need to take all of this to the hospital.” She pushed a box towards Hajime and picked up one herself, and walked out of the supermarket.  
“Hey, wait a minute-“ Hajime started, picking up his own box and hurrying after her. With Chiaki around, he hardly even had time to feel tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> free time babey~  
> 2 things to say about this chapter:  
> \- Chihiro is a trans girl and no way am i gonna misgender her in my own fanfic  
> \- In the uk we actually say 'mum' not 'mom' but i used the US spelling. so, anyone reading from the US better appreciate that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeskip time. There is going to be one more timeskip in this fic later, so watch out for that.

**GRAPE HOUSE- INVESTIGATION**

 

Hajime sighed, his face in his hands. Part of him had always known that this would happen. After all, it was either kill or starve to death, right? He looked over at Chiaki, who was questioning everyone. He admired her resilience in these situations. She clearly cared deeply about her classmates, but within minutes of a killing she would grit her teeth, put aside her sentimentality and get down to figuring out the killer for the good of everyone. Without her, they would have all died long ago. He was filled with uncertainty about the future that was in store for the others, but when he was talking to Chiaki, he always somehow felt that everything was going to be OK.  Just as he was thinking this, she turned and began to walk over to where he was sitting. He sat up a little and gave her a small wave.

“How can I help you?”

She nodded and began to reel off questions about where he had been, what he had seen during the investigation. He answered them to the best of his ability, but had to apologetically explain that he had mostly just been asleep.

“Sorry that I can’t be more helpful. I’m sure you’ll crack it though.” He gave her a weak smile and a double thumbs up. She gave him a distracted nod in response. He noticed this, and then she noticed that he had noticed and her faraway gaze came back into focus.

“Oh, Sorry. This is all just… a lot to take in.”

Hajime looked at the floor and sighed. “Yeah.” He felt like he should say more, but didn’t know what. After all, what could you say to someone investigating a friend’s recent murder? It wasn’t not exactly a normal situation to be in. She touched his shoulder reassuringly, and put her other hand on her heart.

“Don’t worry though, ok? I’ve got this.”

She dropped her hands back to her sides and started to turn towards the direction of Grape Tower. As she was making to move away, a familiar voice cut through the tense silence.

“Well, hello there you two!”

Chiaki spun around and blinked in confusion at Nagito. Nagito, who was supposed to be trapped in Strawberry House. Hajime leaned forward in his chair. Hearing his explanation for this one would be interesting.

Chiaki was somewhat more ruffled. Hajime could almost see her mind racing, trying to put together how this could possibly make sense. He sat further forward on his chair, resting his elbows on the table.

“Nagito. So. Why are you here.” Hajime asked flatly.

Nagito’s gaze flicked from Chiaki to Hajime and he tilted his head slightly, smiling mischievously. “Because I showed up.”

Chiaki and Hajime shared an exasperated glance. They had expected as much from this guy.

“But how did you get here?” Chiaki tentatively asked, then immediately sighed. The smug look on Nagito’s face showed that they were wasting their breath. They wouldn’t be getting an answer out of him any time soon. When he opened his mouth they knew exactly what was coming.

“Maybe I… teleported.”

Hajime relaxed backwards and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Wow. I expected nothing, and yet I’m still disappointed.”

Chiaki, however, still hadn’t given up.

“Hey, seriously. How did you get in here?”

Hajime tuned out for a while as Nagito and Chiaki discussed the investigation. He would help where he could with the trial, but there was no way that he would notice anything that those two wouldn’t. He shook his head. If he didn’t know better, he would definitely have had Chiaki pegged as the Ultimate Detective or something. He was surprised at how few people had seemed to notice her ability to cut through contradictions to find the truth. After all, none of them knew that she was talentless.

“You’re serious? It really says… what my talent is?”

His head flicked up at Chiaki’s words. Nagito was holding a file bearing the crest of Hope’s peak academy. Could that be…?

“All along, you were just some reserve course student from the reserve department.”

Nagito’s reply rung in Hajime’s ears. He sat, frozen in place as Nagito talked. Chiaki’s expression was a heart-wrenching mixture of disbelief and humiliation, and he could barely bring himself to look.

“You were never an Ultimate. The Reserve course accepts students based on nothing but a basic entrance exam. Essentially, you’re like a substitute. Well, even then, that’s just in name only… The Reserve Department pretty much only exists to increase Hope’s Peak Academy’s revenue stream.”

Chiaki was still unmoving, but Nagito kept spouting words. Hajime stood up.

“Would you _please_ shut up, Nagito?! You’ve said what you wanted to, now leave her alone.”

Nagito feigned an innocent expression. “She should be glad! Now she can be a stepladder to raising the true hope that is the Ultimates!” That really was the last straw. Hajime stormed over, forcefully grabbed Nagito’s sleeve and dragged him away from Chiaki. The other boy protested as his legs scraped against the scattered chairs but Hajime just ignored him, looking back briefly at Chiaki. She had just… stopped. He hoped with all of his might that she would have come to terms with it by the time they got to the trial, but the one thing he knew he could do was preventing a certain someone from worsening the situation.


	5. Chapter 5

Hajime dragged Nagito into his room and closed the door, leaning against it to block it. Once he was inside, he met Nagito’s eyes with an angry glare.

“What the fuck was that? What was that supposed to achieve?”

Nagito looked unscathed. “I was just letting Chiaki know about her talent! Or lack thereof, I should say. You wouldn’t prefer I lied to her, hmm?”

Hajime ran his hands through his hair. “Agh! It’s not you telling her, it’s how!” He met Nagito’s eyes once again, and when he saw his expression he pointed at it. “There you go again! You enjoy this, don’t you? Tormenting people? Making them hurt? Why, Nagito?” the volume of his voice dropped. Sometimes, he really felt like he knew Nagito. Like they had a real connection. But just as he thought that he might be starting to understand his actions, he would suddenly seem further away than ever. “I’m begging you. Please, don’t make this harder for them than it has to be.” His heart skipped a beat at his misstep. ‘Them’. Of course, Nagito noticed, and pounced on it immediately.

“’Them’? Don’t tell me, Hinata-kun… you’re the killer? Or maybe…” His face darkened. “You’re the traitor?” Hajime was sure that Nagito would be able to hear his heartbeat now. It was racing in his ears, consuming any trace of rational thought. He had to use all of his willpower to muster an incredulous expression, but Nagito’s face immediately brightened. “Just kidding! Although, I do intend to weed out the traitor at all costs. So, hypothetically, if you were… I would be preparing myself about now!” He laughed. Hajime fumbled for a response.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I just misspoke.”

Nagito laughed. “Maybe so. Maybe so. Anyway, I really must start my investigation. I haven’t even seen the crime scene yet after all!” He made for the door, but Hajime blocked him.

“What else is in that book, Nagito?”

Nagito looked at him disinterestedly. “It’s just Chiaki’s information. Nothing else.” Hajime glanced at the book again. It was reasonably thick, too thick to just contain basic details. If it was just Chiaki, did that mean it had information about what had happened to her? What had… been done to her? He had to know. He had to know if Nagito had access to that information, or he’d never understand the cryptic things he would undoubtedly say.

“I’m not letting you leave this room until I see that book.”

Nagito looked troubled. About time too. “Ah. It looks like we are at something of an impasse… You see, I can’t let you look at this book. But equally, I really do need to get to that investigation.”

Oh. So there was extra information in that book. There was no way Nagito would be so hung up on keeping a simple student profile secret. Nagito continued to chatter on.

“Although, there are worse fates than being trapped with you right before we all die, Hinata-kun!”

Hajime ignored him and racked his brain for a way to resolve this situation. Eventually, his train of thought faltered and fell away, and he yawned widely. This was way too much thinking. He might just have to grab it. Relying on the element of surprise he lunged at Nagito, but just as he did so his foot snagged on a loose strand of carpet and he fell on the floor. His knee throbbed, and he swore loudly. Ultimate Luck. Of course. Nagito took the opportunity to sidestep him and open the door. Just as he was about to leave, Hajime caught his eye from the floor and was caught off guard by what he saw.

Despite his earlier gloating, Nagito looked kind of _sad_.


	6. Chapter 6

**SMILE AT HOPE IN THE NAME OF DESPAIR**

**EVENING OF 2 ND DAY**

 

Hajime’s head was reeling. Just that morning, Nagito had announced that he had hidden bombs on the island, with one condition of release: the traitor coming forward. He felt sick to his stomach. Nagito’s warning to him in the grape house unnerved him, sure, but he had never dreamed that he would be capable of a stunt of this scale. And the condition… When he had looked at the terrified expressions of the people around him, he had wanted nothing more than to just reveal himself and be done with it. He was so sick of lying, of causing the others so much anxiety and pain, but when he opened his mouth he couldn’t speak the words. More than anything, he felt utterly betrayed. Nagito was odd, sure, a little obsessed with some idea of ‘hope’, but it seemed like yesterday when they’d just been chatting normally. Was all of that just a lie? A ruse to gain his trust for information? He’d really thought that they’d had something special. He knew that the others had thought that, too, had let down their guard because if one person could trust him, how bad could he be, right? Had Nagito known that too? Used him to lower everyone’s guard?

He slammed his fists down on his desk, tears welling up in his eyes only partly from the pain. Any moment now Usami would show up with that stupid fucking notebook and he would have to fill it out because he was incapable of not doing his job. Literally incapable. He had just as little free will as the Remnants of Despair had. Everyone here was going to die due to some lines of code and then no one would ever even have known that he existed. After all, he was only ever going to have been deleted at the end of this game anyway, right? While the others had talked about escaping he had to force himself to join in, to talk about all of the things that they were going to do once they got out, knowing full well that he would never set foot off Jabberwock Island.

Originally, he had been fine with that fact. He had been content with just monitoring and acting, gently trying to guide the others on the right path. But seeing his companions- no, his friends- picked off one by one had sent him into a kind of despair that Alter Ego probably hadn’t thought him capable of. He supposed he didn’t blame her- after all, she was just doing her job, too, and she couldn’t have possibly expected this situation- but sometimes he wished that Chihiro hadn’t been such a good programmer, capable of giving him such complexity of thought without knowing where it would take him.

After a while, his resolve steeled and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He might not be able to reveal himself, but he at least had to know what Nagito knew. If they couldn’t stop his plan in that way, they would just have to find the bombs and ruin it themselves.

Hajime left his cottage and pushed the door closed with a soft click. This was just like a stealth game, he told himself. What would he do first if this was a stealth game? Check for enemies before entering. He quietly walked to Nagito’s cottage and put his ear up against the door, listening for any movement. Nothing. He looked through the tiny crack between the door and doorframe. No light was leaking through, so Nagito couldn’t have the lights on in there. He wouldn’t have gone to sleep yet, right? It was dark, but still not too late. He didn’t have Nagito down as someone who gets early nights. Having established that Nagito wasn’t in his cottage, he now just had to find his way in. This could be a very difficult task, considering that it was obviously going to be locked. However, there were windows all around it. Since the cottages were over water, he might not expect anyone to try to enter by that means. Tentatively, he climbed over the wooden barrier and edged onto the thin border around the edge of the cottage. It couldn’t have been more than 3 inches wide, and Hajime had to cling to the windowsills to not fall off, but slowly, slowly, he managed to edge around to the back of the cottage.

Once he had reached the back he breathed a sigh of relief and began to try the windows. As he stuck his nails under the frame of one he almost toppled backwards as the window moved backwards towards him. The curtain was down, but he managed to undignifiedly slither through the window before collapsing on the floor. Getting his bearings, he looked around the room, his eyes scanning over the bed, the shelves, and…

Nagito.

Sitting at his desk, reading a book by the light of a small lamp.

Hajime looked up at him from his position sitting on the ground, his mouth agape, waiting for Nagito’s inevitable snarky opener, but it never came. Instead, Nagito was sitting, staring at him, utterly unreadable. Hajime’s eyes traced over to the book. With horror he realised that the book in Nagito’s hands was his diary.

He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even know what he would be able to say. From here he could just about see the page enough to know what it contained. Written across the lines in his neat, rounded handwriting were the words:

TODAY THE ARCADE MACHINE BROKE. NAGITO THINKS THAT IT WAS HIS LUCK’S FAULT.

They had been the only ones there on that day. The conclusion was unmistakable.

Finally, after what seemed like an age of silence, Nagito spoke. His voice uncharacteristically quivered.

“Did- did you write this?”

Hajime looked at the ground, his mouth dry and his heart feeling like it was about to beat straight through his chest. This is what he had wanted, to be able to reveal himself, but not like this. He couldn’t say ‘yes’ if he tried- his programming would obstruct the words long before they got to the surface- but there was no use lying now. There was no explaining this one away. Nagito sighed, his usual demeanour returning.

“I thought as much.”

He loudly flipped the diary closed and stood up from his seat. As he approached, Hajime braced himself for whatever was going to come next. He was willing to take it if it meant that the others would survive, but Nagito had been so intent on finding the traitor that he dreaded to think that was in store now that he was found out. He closed his eyes and waited, but nothing came.

When he opened his eyes, Nagito was sitting in front of him on the floor, looking intently at Hajime, searching his face.

Hajime faltered.

“Were you… not planning to kill me?” It registered in his mind that this question wasn’t in his best interests, but he had to know. Nagito laughed.

“No, no. You misunderstand. After all,” His expression darkened. “You aren’t the one who deserves to die.”

Hajime’s face fell. “What do you mean?”

Nagito leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

“Come on, Hinata-kun. I think you know exactly what I mean.”

Hajime’s hunch had been correct. The student profiles had contained a lot more than Nagito had let on. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to answer, Nagito continued.

“I don’t blame you for not coming forward, obviously. After all, why would you risk it for a load of criminals?”

Hajime’s hands tightened into fists. He couldn’t help himself.

“I wanted to! Obviously I wanted to! You don’t understand. I just… can’t.”

Nagito looked confused. “Yeah. Isn’t that what I said?”

Hajime shook his head. This must have not been included in whatever he had read. “No, you don’t understand at all, Nagito. I-”

His programming cut him off, and he tried to come up with another way to get his point across.

“Look. Hypothetically, imagine that you were programming an AI. Would you program it to be able to say anything it wants?”

He stopped as he saw realisation flicker in Nagito’s eyes.

“You can’t…? Ah.” They sat in silence for a few seconds. “That seems… cruel.”

Hajime just shrugged. He’d thought enough about this by himself.

Eventually, Nagito got up and dusted off his coat.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad it was you.” He shot Hajime a sad smile. “It was nice knowing you. Even if you aren’t the same Hajime Hinata as from Hope’s Peak, you’re still a shining symbol of hope in my eyes.” As Nagito took a step towards the door, the meaning behind his words registered in Hajime’s mind.

“Nagito? What do you mean? Why are you talking in past tense?” He got up off the ground. “What are you planning? You got what you wanted, now disable the bombs.” The sad look stayed on Nagito’s face.

“I’m going to do what I have to do. I’m going to wipe out all despair from this island.” He noticed Hajime’s horrified expression and cocked his head to the side. “What are you going to do, tell the others that you’re the traitor? Oh, wait.”

Tears welled up in Hajime’s eyes. “Please don’t do this. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt.” He took a step towards Nagito and grabbed both of the other boy’s hands in his own.

“I don’t want to see _you_ get hurt.”

Nagito looked genuinely surprised. He looked down at his hands then back up at Hajime, as if in disbelief that he would ever touch him.

“Why would you care? I don’t deserve to live.”

He said it with such acceptance and certainty that Hajime’s resolve only strengthened, and he squeezed Nagito’s hands again. So many times he had desperately wanted to do this, tell Nagito how much he cared, but every time he wasn’t able, was too afraid of getting pushed away. If he didn’t get the message across now, he wouldn’t get another chance.

“Yes, you do. I know you do. That person wasn’t you; this is you. You’re standing right in front of me, and I’m telling you that the Nagito I know deserves a second chance.”

Nagito shook off Hajime’s hands and held his head in his hands, his eyes wild. Hajime could only watch in horror as his eyes became distant and blurry.

“No, you’re wrong. Stop it! STOP IT! STOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPIT! The only thing that matters is hope! I have to wipe out the despair! STOP DOING THIS TO ME!”

He started walking backwards away from Hajime, tripping over the chair as he did so and crashing to the floor. He hardly seemed to register what had happened, his expression fixed. All Hajime could think about was how terrified he looked, but Nagito was lashing out at anything close to him. He bit his lip nervously. If he wanted to help him, he was going to have to wait this out. He just had to make sure that Nagito didn’t do anything rash until he had calmed down.

Taking out his games console, he sat down with his back to the door and waited.

Several hours and several completions of the game later, Nagito’s muttering had quieted to nothing. Instead, he just sat looking blank. Getting up from his position by the door, Hajime carefully lifted him. He wasn’t strong, but Nagito was surprisingly light. He set him gently down on the bed then sat down on the sofa himself, getting ready for a long and tiring wait.


	7. Chapter 7

Hajime’s eyes were blurry as the sun rose. He wished he’d got an earlier night the day before; he could handle an all-nighter but two in a row was pushing it. His fingers slipped on the controls and his character veered sideways, losing their final life. As he set down the game over screen, he realised that he wasn’t alone. Nagito was sitting up on the bed, watching him. Hajime waved weakly.  
“Hey. How are you feeling?”  
Nagito looked a mixture between worried and confused.  
“Why are you still here, Hinata-kun?”  
Hajime feigned mock offence.  
“What, you don’t want me here?”  
Nagito shook his head emphatically.  
“That’s not it. I just… ”  
His foggy, sleepy demeanour evaporated abruptly. Hajime tensed, fearing that the Nagito from last night was back.  
“You can’t stop me, you know. You can’t keep me in here forever.” To Hajime’s surprise, tears began rolling down Nagito’s face. “I don’t deserve what you said to me. Even if you won’t let me take the others with me…”  
It was Hajime’s turn to shake his head. “Yes, you do. And I’ll be here for as long as it takes.” He moved to sit next to Nagito on the bed.  
“Look, Nagito. I- I like you a lot. You hurting yourself- it would hurt me. And you don’t want to hurt me, right?”  
Nagito shook his head mutely. Hajime swung his legs around so that he was sitting facing him, and smiled tiredly.  
“Have a little hope, ok?”  
Tears welled up in Nagito’s eyes once again and he collapsed forward into Hajime’s open arms, sobbing into his chest. The warmth of Nagito’s body made Hajime even more tired than before and, with his head resting on the backboard and his arms around Nagito, he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy end!! :D  
> That's all I have written down. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Please leave a comment if so!


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